Chapter 1: Out in the Woods

As another beautiful day in Ponyville came to a close four young fillies could be seen walking out into the White Tail Woods, their saddle bags filled to the brim with camping supplies. Each member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders had been given permission to go out into the woods to try and get their camping cutie marks, and Babs Seed, Applebloom's cousin, was coming along for the ride thanks to a suggestion by Applejack. Despite their disagreements with her they still agreed to take Babs along, if not just in the hopes of seeing her scream at night after they tell their ghost stories.

"Can you guys hurry it up, my hooves are getting sore" Babs complained from the back of the group. She did have a point, the Crusaders were going at a painfully slow pace, but they good reason to. They had never been into White Tail Woods on their own before, and had no real idea what to expect.

"AH!" Sweetie Belle screamed as a low hanging branch rubbed across her hooves, tickling her ever so slightly. She jumped backwards, slamming into Babs as she did, sending Babs straight into a small stream that was running along side their path.

"Agh!" Babs groaned as she looked at mud covered self once her eyes were clear, "Stupid Unicorn!"

"Sorry, it scared me..." Sweetie Belle admitted quietly, her cheeks flushing red as she looked at Babs. Babs got up out the stream, shaking herself dry like a dog, splattering mud everywhere. A small amount landed on Scootaloo's flank, landing with a loud wet smack.

"What was that?!" Scootaloo jumped, turning around so quickly that her tail whipped Sweetie Belle in the face, pushing her back into Babs again.

"Watch where you're going!" Babs shouted, pushing Sweetie Belle back towards Scootaloo, the two of them falling to the ground in a heap. They tried to get up, but their saddlebags got wrapped around each other. In their final attempt to get up they stumbled backwards and tripped Babs up, making her land face first in the dirt. When Babs got up she moved to push Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle into the stream, but she was stopped by Applebloom.

"Hey guys, stop fighting with each other, we're almost there" Applebloom said, putting a hoof out to stop Babs in her tracks. She looked angrily at Applebloom, but saw the clearing behind her, raising her spirits enough for her to forget about Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. As the four of them trotted happily over to the campsite Babs noticed a large pile of wood off the path. A thought crossed her mind of using the wood to prank the Crusaders, scaring them out of the forest.

"Come on guys, let's get our camp set up" Applebloom cheered as her and the other Crusaders dropped their saddlebags down to the ground. Within minutes they had their tents and sleeping bags all set up, except for Babs, who was still fighting with her tent.

"Are you okay?" Applebloom asked as she trotted over the Babs' tent. The tent looked as if a small windstorm had attacked it, with the poles sticking up at weird angles.

"Hey Babs, you're putting it together backwards" Scootaloo said as she trotted over to look at what was going on. Babs looked at the two of them angrily before kicking her tent away, hitting it at such a weird angle that it snapped everything into place. Everypony looked at the tent in confusion before shrugging and going on with their business. The day dragged on slowly, with the Crusaders running around to gather wood for a campfire. As the sun finally went down Scootaloo began to fight with the firewood, eventually getting a small fire going.

"There we go!" Scootaloo cheered before jumping up and turning around quickly, flapping her tiny wings furiously to grow the fire quickly. Her plan worked perfectly and she soon had a roaring fire going, warming up the entire campsite instantly.

"Nice job Scoots" Applebloom said happily as she trotted over to the fire, looking at it happily.

"Thanks, now all we have to do is-" Scootaloo started to say before freezing instantly, her face flushing red as the sudden need to pee overcame her. She quickly ran off into the bushes, which was then followed by a loud scream as Scootaloo slipped into a ditch, catching Sweetie Belle and Applebloom off guard. The two of them ran off into the bushes after Scootaloo, leaving Babs all to herself. When they were completely out of sigh Babs smirked, running off towards the pile of wood she had seen before.

"Woah, these are perfect for the fire..." Babs whispered to herself as she picked up a piece of wood, probably at least five ponies long. After struggling to get it over to the fire pit she let it drop, not noticing as a small piece of bark that was sticking out caught on fire, the rest of the log quickly catching as well.

"What the..." Babs started to say as she turned around, watching the entire log catch on fire. Her first reaction was to kick it away, and ended up sending it towards where the Crusaders had run of to. Babs watched in horror as the fire spread to all of the trees in the area, quickly sealing off the Crusaders from the camp as it lit every tree in the area on fire. As the fire continued to spread around the campsite Babs jumped into the nearby stream, hiding in the water to keep herself safe.

"What's going on!" Applebloom shouted from beyond the fire, making Babs fall to the ground in fear.

"I think the campfire spread to the trees!" Sweetie Belle cried as the fire shot out at her, singeing her horn.

"I hope Babs is oka-" Scootaloo started to say, cut off by Applebloom howling in pain as a burning branch snapped at her, smacking her right across the face, burning her eyes in the process. When Scootaloo moved to help her a branch fell from up above, slamming down on her back, effectively crippling her wings, causing her to shout out in pain. Sweetie Belle let out a yelp as the fire pushed her back, a loud snap being heard as one of the upper branches broke off, falling straight onto her horn, snapping it completely off. Babs was shaking in fear as she heard the Crusaders crying out in pain as the fire burned them them across their bodies, the cries digging into her skull. When the screaming stopped she broke down completely, thinking that she just caused their deaths with her own stupidity. It wasn't until the rescue ponies came by that Babs finally moved again, seeing the bruised and burned bodies of the Crusaders as they were carried away, each of them shaking violently as they tried to cry, finding it to be impossible due to the pain it would cause them.

"I'm sorry..." Babs whispered through her tears, not being heard above any of the ponies as they rushed around to put out the fire and look for any other ponies or animals caught in it.